A creative and industrious American, by the name of Charles Fey, began inventing, designing and manufacturing slot machines in early 1894 from his workshop in San Francisco, United states. Charles Fey later went on to pioneered many innovations of coin operated gambling devices, including the original three reel and bell slot machine in the year 1898.
The "Liberty Bell" design is considered to be the precursor of all modern slot machines as its basic design continues to be incorporated in all of the mechanical and online gaming devices played today. The simple mechanical devices with three old-style reels holding 20 symbols have evolved into microprocessor-controlled software with up to five spinning reels holding hundreds of symbols.
The Liberty Bell machine differed a lot from the slots we know today. The Liberty Bell machine was made almost entirely of cast iron, and weighed over 100 lbs. The symbols integrated into the reels were stars, horseshoes, and cards suits.
The Operator Bell Slot machine was the next instalment from Charles Fey. However this time round he used different fruit for the symbols. The Bell Fruit company produced the 'fruit machines' which paid fruit-flavoured chewing gums to the winners, instead of coins which was previously the case. The BAR symbol that is still used today, comes the original 'fruit machine' as the company wanted to advertise there own brand of chewing gum.
After the anti-gambling movement banned the slot machines, "Bugsy" Siegel the famous crime boss built the Flamingo Hilton on the Las Vegas Strip and placed lots of slot machines in the hall. He did this as a way of keeping the wives and girlfriends of his wealthy players occupied whilst they were playing the serious casino games in the main casino.
As a result of the exposure, slots became extremely popular and the manufacturers saw for the first time the fantastic future that slot machines had ahead of them. Soon after, electronic slots were manufactured and made slots widespread then before. This also lead to the production of slot machine variations.
In the early 70's, slots manufacturers used an electronic chip in the machine and made the RNG determine when the slots will stop. In the 80's all the casinos used slots with micro-chips, as it meant the house had a higher edge than before the introduction of the chip. Slots became enormously popular in the USA, and it didn't take long for the rest of the world to follow suit. Nowadays it's said the casino slot machines earn more than 70-80% of casinos total revenue.
Though slots have changed some what, in the last 20 odd years and moved from large machines to the online version, the main principles of the game still remain the same, and slots are still winning over the hearts of thousands daily.
Slots have changed noticeably over the years and so too has the 'language of slots'. Let's explore some slot terms with this short-version glossary.
Basic Slots: Single payline, known as straight or "flat-top" slots, have a constant top jackpot payout that does not change.
Bet Max: is to bet the max coins for each play/spin. The best payouts occur when the maximum bet is wagered. Exception: when playing multi-line slots, you must activate all paylines, but to stretch your playing time, bet 1-2 coins/line.
Bonus Added Slots: Features include multi-spins, 5 reels, multi-lines, bonus games, wild symbols, scatter pay, multiplier and nudge-hold. Available at casinos online and land-based.
Collect: Amount of credits/cash won after a session of slot play. Bonus slots conclude the bonus round with a Collect button.
Double/Triple Symbols: Whenever these symbols appear in the center of a single payline slot in combination with other symbols creating a winning combination, the payoff amount is doubled or tripled. Two or three of these same symbols increase the jackpot payout.
Hit Frequency: is the average number of spins for slots. The lower the hit frequency, the better.
For example, a 2 indicates a hit every second spin, while a 7 is a hit approx. every 7th spin. It is better to have a payout on average every 2nd spin, rather than every 7th spin.
Hold and Re-Spin Bonus Slots: Player holds the reel results while the other reels spin unassisted resulting in additional credits.
Line Bet: Wager for each line activated. Tip: to receive full value at a multi-line bonus slot, you should activate all available paylines.
Linked Jackpot: increased by a percentage of coins bet by two or more machines.
Multi-Line Slots: offer multiple paylines up to as many as 50. Most of these versions come in penny denominations; also nickel, quarter and dollar.
Multiplier: Slot feature where winning credits are multiplied 2X-10X for a bonus win.
Multiplier Slots Version: pays for certain symbols on a graduating scale. On a three reel, you get 5 coins for a 'cherry' playing 1 coin, 10 pay for 2 coins and 15 pay for 3 coins. The payouts for playing 1 coin are much smaller than if you played max. coins.
Nudge Slots: Slot feature where a paying symbol will 'drop down' creating a win. It could be a basketball, diamond, cherry or wild symbol. You just need a little nudge up or down and you are in the money. Nudge slots usually display the word 'Deluxe' in the name.
Progressive Slots: offer growing jackpots dependent upon amount of monies played through the linked bank/carousel slots. A larger bankroll is required and all progressives are at least three coin max slots with two jackpot levels - primary and secondary. When either jackpot wins, values are reset to minimums for each. Max play is mandatory here.
Reels: Number of wheels/reels displayed in window of slot imprinted with symbols specific to that particular slot theme or game.
Scatter Pays: Specific symbols of the slot game that pay even if the symbols are not on the same payline. Tip: Scatter Pays pay only on a line that has been activated with a bet.
Short Win: This happens all the time. A large jackpot is hit with a minimal cash outlay--15 bucks gets you $1000's.
Slot Schedule: Posted information on front of slot tells you what type of slot, denomination, and symbol combination win amounts possible for each coin played. Required reading.
Slot Types: Basic, Progressive, Bonus Slots and Group/Community Play are the four major types/categories.
Wide Area Progressives: Slots linked in more than one casino, area or country. Progressive jackpot amount is displayed as the same $ amount at each machine regardless of location.
Win! This is what the game of slots is agen referral slot all about.